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Pixar Eclipses Sun with Linux/Intel
lieutenant writes "Pixar Animation Studios is replacing servers from Sun in its render farm with eight new blade servers from Rackspace. In all, the blade system contains 1,024 Intel 2.8GHz Xeon processors, and it runs the open-source Linux operating system. Pixar has ported its Renderman software to run on Linux." I'd love to see their electric bill ;)
Wonder why Pixar didn't choose Apple's XServe - I've sure Steve would have given them a small discount! ;-)
Although I guess the XServe is more of a file/print/DB server than a number cruncher given the G4's that sit inside the box are easily out-performed by Intel/AMD these days.
that if you want to get serious work done, you must use x86 systems and Linux and not a Mac w/ OSX. :-P
SIGFAULT
agreed. everyone says apple is going to die all the time. I think apple has officially been declared dead 27 times in the last 5 years. people even declare linux dead. Microsoft has even been declared dead. I'm going to start a new trend. I'm going to declare Sun alive.
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Congratulations, you're an idiot, and you're symptomatic of the problem.
In addition to the mathematical calculation, there is the issue of the "Linux sure ain't ready for the desktop" link. Mostly this comprises of dated and rather muddled arguments regarding the usefulness of Linux for the average home user.The math error is mine. I'm sorry. I posted without having my coffee first.
However, the article is not wrong.
The first point you miss is that to be a good home computer operating system, it has to be a good office operating system. Why? Because people will tend to use at home what they're forced to use at work. Why? So that they can do homework.
If you can't see this simple little piece of logic, then you're sufficiently stupid for a position on the UN Security Council.
As a high school teacher currently managing a transition to Linux in the classroom (via LTSP), I find it very easy to get kids up and running in a Linux environment (or to install Linux for that matter).Sure! Now, tell me, you're a secretary. The boss tells you to make a slide show presentation. You need to embed a 30-second sample of a commercial that your company plans on airing next month.
Gonna use Open Office? It won't embed video and launch xine. But this is what the boss really wants. He wants seamless integration with his slideshow.
Oops. Linux doesn't provide applications capable of doing what you need. You grind your teeth, fire up Windows, and use Power Point.
This is the real world.
The author starts by stating that Redhat 6.0 wouldn't work with his MONOCHROME VGA monitor. Excuse me? Are we talking about current Linux distros or old ones? Is the author even aware that other distros exist? Has he entered the 21st century yet? Did he even bother trying a text install (and is he competent enough to RTFM when he uses strange hardware configs to install).Actually, I did RTFM. And I post this more as symptomatic of the problem. The installer works absolutely fine if you install on a color monitor, but the mono was all I had in the server closet. If you start the installer with the color monitor then plug in the mono, everything remains perfectly readable. However, if when the installer starts, it detects a mono monitor, it changes to the gray on gray color scheme which is impossible to read. Someone at Red Hat *didn't bother to test it before releasing it*.
Oh yeah, Red Hat is the most popular distro. To most people, it *is* Linux. And even if it weren't, do you really think that most users, including those currently running Windows 97 and Office 99, are actually going to know the difference between two distros?
His second argument: lack of scroll mouse support in Redhat 7.1. Ok.... I'm sure this is the most critical element in an desktop environment - it's definitely not the lack of BSODs. This argument is so inconsequential it boggles me that he put it in his article.Ask a user. I administer a public access lab where 20 people sit in front of Linux systems for simple web browsing. The number one complaint is, "put in mice with scroll wheels".
The fact of the matter is that the scroll wheel is a convenience. Since the computer is just a tool, it is, by its nature, something you use specifically for convenience.
Having a GUI without a scroll wheel is about as ridiculous now as a car without automatic spark advance. Maybe *you* don't expect it, Oh Great Sahib, Let Me Worship You. But Joe Sixpack certainly does.
As for the fact that there are no BSoDs in Linux, who gives a shit? The kernel may not be broken, but the applications sure are! I don't know about you, but I use an operating system for a hell of a lot more than just its kernel.
I'd have to agree with his third argument - Linux sound systems are some times difficult to work with - hope to see some advances there.Actually, arts is great. However, because there's too much of a clusterfuck going on within the community to come to the obvious conclusion that standards are a good thing, we continue to see software being written which defaults to OSS or writing directly to /dev tree.
This underscores the theme of my article, which is that the problems with Linux as a desktop solution are more issues of geek politics than they are of technical prowess.
4th argument: KMail lacks spell checker. Um.. ok, use a different email client. Use a web based one. Edit in a word processor and cut and paste later if you need to.Or I'll just save myself the time and effort of copying and pasting back and forth, and simply install an operating system where I can get an e-mail client with the *hugely* difficult and unreasonable requirements of
Forgive me, but my time is valuable. I'm not some unionized schlep with an arts degree. My tools are timesavers, and I will therefore work to make them as efficient as possible.
The author apparently hasn't heard of other desktops like IceWM.Indeed I have. But you're about as fucking obtuse as anyone I've met in my life. Joe Sixpack has come to expect a certain measure of desktop metaphor from his operating system - and KDE/Gnome provide that. I use Fluxbox a lot of the time, but it's not suitable for the masses, and you know it isn't.
The author complains that RH 7.3 ships with Wine installed by default - and that this makes one open to email virus attachments. THIS is his argument for sticking with Windows? Lets ignore the fact that even if it does infect, the virus is very limited in what it can access by linux kernel design and permissions systems.Can wipe out /home/$USER.
This isn't an argument for sticking with Windows. In fact, that is, in no measure, what I'm advocating on my website.
What I'm advocating is that users and developers take a long hard look at what sucks and what doesn't suck.
Having WINE installed by default sucks. It makes Linux machines vulnerable to Windows virii. There's no intelligent reason for that.
Mind numbing slowness? Ok... I can only assume he's running lin4win or something.KDE 3.01 on a PIII-500, mostly working as an e-mail drone. Opening a directory full of 2,800 MP3s takes over 10 minutes. Why? Because KDE seems to feel a need to check the attributes of each and every file, every time I open that directory. (So sorry, by the way, if a fucking Pentium III 500 isn't fast enough to serve as an e-mail and MP3 drone, I'd hate to think of what I'd need to run CATIA.)
How about having it scan all directories and make a database of attributes during quiet time, use that when you open a directory, and scan for changes with each opening?
Crashing apps: an app crashing under X rarely locks X up completely (especially when compared with Windows), and at least there IS an alternative when this happens (3 finger salute or SSH to the box from another one) other than the traditional hit the reset button that happens with Windows 3-4 times a day.The problem with Linux stability isn't Linux, it's the applications.
When an application crashes and you can't bring control of your screen back, given that you're the average user who doesn't have the second machine (or the knowledge) to telnet in, you have to reboot Linux.
Windows 2000/XP is actually more reliable than Linux applications. Not the Linux kernel, you'll note - it's not even close. But if you're dealing with a standalone Linux machine and something has eaten X, you have no alternative but to reboot. And that's the condition under which Joe Sixpack is working.
FUD? I think so.Must be nice to bury your head in the sand everytime someone tells you something which you don't like. You spend a lot of time living in denial, don't you?
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Maybe you should spend less time overreacting and more time thinking and learning english. Here is an excerpt of the meanings of eclipse from dictionary.com To obscure or diminish in importance, fame, or reputation. To surpass; outshine: an outstanding performance that eclipsed the previous record.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body